About this series: In stark contrast to the Cheapest Games series, this Rare & Valuable series will round up the rarest and most valuable games for a given console or handheld so you’ll know what to look for whether you are buying or selling. Since Sega’s first console wasn’t a bit hit in the United States and it doesn’t have as much of a collector’s following as some newer systems, it can be a challenge to find a lot of [...]

Note from racketboy: Special thanks goes to Chrono for putting most of this guide together! The RetroGaming 101 series is aimed at gamers who are just starting out in the classic gaming scene or are curious about an older console that they don’t know much about yet. Before Sega made wave with the Genesis/Megadrive in the 16-bit era, it had its first international console release with the Sega Master System. It didn’t have nearly the success in the US as the Nintendo [...]

8-Bit Sega fans may have another way to enjoy their classics. Master System and Game Gear games will be availible on the Nintendo Wii’s Japanese Virtual Console service in February and should also be coming to the rest of the planet soon after. Personally, I find it interesting that the Game Gear actually beat the Gameboy to the Virtual Console as the first portable system on the service, but I suppose that is due to the fact that the Game [...]

When you add a console to your collection, the first thing you want to do is get a handful of games to keep you busy with your new toy. However, most of us can’t spend afford to spend fat pile of cash for a few games. This budget-friendly list should help you quickly find which games will start you off well without emptying your wallet. (Prices listed are an average eBay price for US games, including shipping) I thought I [...]

While most gamers probably think of the Genesis/MegaDrive as Sega’s first console, the Master System System actually preceded the the 16-bit wonder but failed to adequately compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Technically, the Master System was superior to the NES, with better graphics and higher quality sound. However, the SMS came up short for the most part in terms of quality games. Even though the Master System may not have quite the library that the NES has, there are [...]

I have been recently been fascinated by the history of the various machines that have battled for our living rooms. Each machine has had its strengths and weaknesses, and as a programmer, I’m amazed by some of the ways developers have harnessed the power of consoles and pushed them to their limits resulting is some marvelous games. I usually try to emphasize that gameplay is more important that graphical quality. However, I thought it would be interesting to take a [...]